Not cheap or pig-headed.....Just looking at performance gain per dollar

After the last post I got some emails accusing me of being pig-headed and too "Old-school" and not embracing technology. I beg to differ-I know the GM LS engines are the future-just like the small-block Chevy replaced the Ford Flathead as "The" hot rod engine in the lat '50s and early '60's. If you want to hot rod one of these modern marvels go ahead. With their electronic fuel management they can make awesome power and still retain decent drivability. But like I've said before-you buy something old because it's different from what's new. I don't understand buying a '55 Chevy and putting a Morrison frame under it with rack&pinion steering and 4-wheel disc brakes and an LS engine and a six-speed automatic. If you want a new Camaro SS or Corvette-go buy one. What I'm talking about is people building "Old-school" cars-I.E,-a '55 Chevy or a '68 Road Runner or even a '77 Trans-Am. Let's take the '77 T/A for example. These cars are experiencing a real renaissance right now and values are skyrocketing. That's because people have found out what great cars they actually were and how much potential they have. What irritates me about every single Pontiac ever featured in a magazine is 1st off-they all have a cut-down 455 crank, longer big-block Chevy rods and custom pistons stuffed in a 400 block so they can get 461-470 ci. That's nice, except-these rotating assemblys cost 2 grand. And that's just for the parts-that doesn't include the machine work you'll need to use this assembly. So your going to have $2,500 in the crank, rods and pistons. Consider this-if the 400 in the car ran good, had good oil pressure, and good compression, and didn't use any oil-$2500 would buy you an Edelbrock Performer intake, a hotter than stock cam kit from Edelbrock, Crane, Competition Cams, Lunati-etc, a set of headers and a good dual exhaust system,a higher-stall speed torque converter and  some 3.42:1 or 3.73:1 gears to put all that newfound power to the ground. I'd much rather be driving my T/A with 150 or so extra hp and be enjoying it rather than having it engineless while I scrape up another 4 grand to finish my stroker engine. The other thing I see is they all have to have hydraulic roller cams. Again if your building a late-model small or big-block Chevy or small-block Ford that had a roller cam from the factory-yes that's the way to go. You can run a bigger cam without excessive valve spring pressure or ruining the idle quality. Absolutely. But Pontiac never made a roller-cammed engine and the valvetrain parts necessary to convert a 1962-79 Pontiac engine to accept a roller cam costs about $1,800 on up-depending on which manufacturer you call. Now considering that the average aftermarket flat-tappet cam and lifter kit for a Pontiac costs about $200-I think I'll save the other $1,600 and live without the extra 25 hp and 30 lbs ft of torque. Or use that $1,800 to buy some Edelbrock or Kauffman aluminum heads-which will give you a lot more improvement than the 25 extra hp switching from flat-tappet to a roller. Especially if you already have the cam, exhaust, gears etc to complement the free-breathing heads. Why are NASCAR racers running flat-tappet cams to this day?  Certainly not to keep costs down-no the roller valvetrains are too heavy and aren't as reliable trying to run 8,000 rpm for 500 miles at Daytona!  The other thing that kills me is fuel injection. Now if you have a Camaro / Firebird, Corvette or Mustang that was fuel injected from the factory-yes Edelbrock, Accel, Trick Flow and other companies offer ported manifolds, larger throttle bodies, high-flow injectors, etc that work in conjunction with the factory system and will feed engines over 500 hp. That's the way to go. I'm talking about the aftermarket systems sold by Edelbrock, Holley, and others. They start at 2 grand-and that's the most basic kit for a small-block Chevy. For anything else they run more than 3 grand. $600 will buy you an Edelbrock intake and matching carb for any popular engine out there. And here's the kicker-in every test I've read-be it a Chevy, Ford, Mopar or Pontiac-the carburator made MORE power!!!  High-Performance Pontiac magazine tested on a STRONG 455 powered Trans-Am. The Edelbrock Performer RPM / 850 Holley combo made 15 MORE hp on the dyno than the $3,800 injection system. Explain this math to me-why would I spend an extra $3,200 to make LESS power?  So I can open the hood and show it to people? $3,800 for an induction system?  I read an article called "Junkyard Jewell" where Car Craft built a 400 Pontiac that had 500+ hp and 500+ lbs of torque for $4,400-for the whole engine from carb to oil pan, including machine work and the Edelbrock heads!!  I'll say it again- Hot Rod's "Project Disco" a 1979 Z/28 Camaro. 1st-off how is an LS motor and a six-speed tranny "Disco-Era Cool?"  That aside- why did it need a custom 9 inch Ford rearend? '79 Z/28's came from the factory with GM's excellent 8.5 inch ring gear Limited-Slip rear end with either 3.42:1 or 3.73:1 gears. Perfect for a street machine. Why did they have to spend $3,300 on a Currie custom? Oh yeah, that 1/2 inch on the ring gear makes a huge difference in toughness. Really? Because I have owned 400, 4-speed T/A's that use this same rear end and have dropped the clutch at 4,500 rpm incessantly drag-racing them every weekend and never broke the rear end. Why did it have to have a $5,000 six-speed conversion?  '79 Z/28s had either a BW T10 4-speed or a TH350 automatic with a 2,400 rpm converter nothing less than stellar to start with from the factory. Either one would have bolted up to their LS engine and performed flawlessly. If they wanted overdrive- a Gear Vendors overdrive only costs $2,600 and would give you six gears with the TH350 and 7 with the T10 ( the company doesn't recommend using the O/D in low gear with a stick ). I like technology fine-if it offers the biggest improvement for the lowest cost. But technology just for technology's sake-or to be able to say "I have the latest and greatest" even though it costs twice as much and makes less power is asinine. Mastermind